After being ready Monday to approve an architect for the construction of a new municipal building, the Athens City Council abruptly changed course Wednesday, saying they would wait one to three years for the project.

The plan started to come undone at Monday night’s council meeting when in a work session before the regular meeting Councilman Harold Wales asked that an agenda item to approve an architect be tabled for further consideration because he had received a telephone call that caused him some concern about Council President Ronnie Marks’ recommendation of the Decatur firm of Godwin Barnett.

“I would like to delay this for two weeks until I can check something out,” said Wales.

Marks said the firm would not have been “invited to the table” if it hadn’t checked out.

“We invited four to the table and I think all of them did excellent presentations,” said Marks. “If they were not good we wouldn’t have invited them. This is not an easy decision, but if we are to move forward with this then we need to get started.”

On August 24, the council met in a work session with the architectural firms of Krebs Architecture of Birmingham; Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood of Birmingham and Huntville; CMH Architects of Birmingham, and Godwin Barnett.

Both Councilwomen Milly Caudle and Mignon Bowers said they were ready to put the motion on the floor, but Councilman Jimmy Gill said he also wanted to know more about the firm.

“I don’t think it would hurt to wait two weeks,” said Gill.

“I don’t want to wait two weeks,” said Marks. “We will get inundated with questions we should have already had answers to. It will not prove anything to wait two weeks.”

Caudle said she had also received a phone call from the same person who called Wales.

“In my mind, the questions have been answered,” said Caudle.

“I’m disappointed that as a council we didn’t have our minds made up in the last two weeks,” said Bowers.

However, Marks relented and called a special meeting for 9 a.m. Wednesday to answer any remaining questions that Wales and Gill had.

After the meeting, local attorney John Plunk told The News Courier that he was the one who made the calls to the council members. He said that, according to the Alabama Board of Architects the two principals in the firm of Godwin Barnett, John Godwin and Sam Barnett, were not registered architects.

On the board’s Web site under the “License Verification” link, neither Godwin’s nor Barnett’s names are listed.

On Tuesday, Plunk supplied a copy of the Architects Handbook of the Alabama Board pf Architects. Under Section 34-2-37, the handbook states:

“It shall be lawful for a [firm] to practice architecture in this state provided that all officers and voting stockholders are architects or professional engineers registered under the laws of Alabama.” In a later part of the same section it goes on to say that, “Said partnership must include at least one architect. The practice of said partnership shall be under the direct control of a partner who is a duly registered architect in the State …”

Under the section 34-2-35, the handbook states: “It shall be unlawful to practice architecture in a branch office not under the day-to-day supervision of a registered architect.”

Under section 34-2-32, it states: “The services of a registered architect shall be required on all buildings except those hereinabove exempted and no official of this state or any city, town or county herein charged with the enforcement of laws, ordinances or regulations relating to the construction or alteration of buildings, shall accept or approve any plans or specifications that are not so prepared.”



Change of course



When the council met Wednesday among the spectators in Mayor Dan Williams’ conference room was Jeff Tosh, an architect employed by CMH Architects of Birmingham, one of the competing firms.

Also there were Plunk and his wife Molly, who are Tosh’s father- and mother-in-law, and Nancy Tosh, Tosh’s mother.

When Marks called the meeting to order, he stated, “This train is moving too fast and we need to slow it down.”

Marks then went on to propose a one-to-three year building plan.

“We’ve got a fire station going up at Steelcase, maybe we can put the whole complex out there,” said Marks. “We need a fire station on the west side of town. I am guilty of wanting to do things now. We’ve been proactive, but we don’t need to rush. I think we can utilize one or more architects and employ them in the next one to three years.”

Marks promised a draft plan for construction over the next three years by the end of October.

“There just seems to be so many things happening,” said Marks. “Let’s peal things back.”

Caudle said, “I think there are some legal things that need to be clarified. When we make a decision we need to be careful. There are so many issues on the table. There’s just so much money we have to spend.”

Gill suggested a study committee composed of the mayor and city department heads and Bowers as council liaison.

“They need to show us the right direction, the feasibility of building here or somewhere else so the council can make good, solid decisions,” said Gill.

“I’ve been pushing for a new city hall,” said Wales. “But I support what you’re doing. There may be a way to use a lot of people on the project.”

The council then went into an executive session to discuss the possible purchase of land. When members came out, The News Courier asked Marks about his change of mind over the course of less than two days.

Marks said he couldn’t sleep and had gotten up at 3 a.m. Wednesday to list all the needed building projects and to consider the city’s finances and he decided it was better to wait and make a long range plan.

John Godwin was not available for comment when the News Courier called the firm Wednesday afternoon.